Pal-entine's Day
by JennaJayfeather
Summary: AU where Waver and Flatt are roommates and both study under Kayneth El Melloi. Valentine's Day fic. Waver wants to give Flatt a Valentine's day gift because he's been a great friend.


Waver stared at the Valentine's gift he had in his hands and gritted his teeth in immense frustration.

It was a mess, and to him it looked downright horrible. It was the stupidest idea he's probably ever had, other than the times he followed along with one of Flatt's stupid ideas.

Flatt Escardos was the subject in question for the gift and was also Waver's roommate. Both were students under Kayneth Lord El Melloi, however, unlike Waver, Flatt was a prodigy. He had been given one of the finest dorms the Clock Tower could offer, which was saying a lot, especially to the thin mage-blooded Waver who wanted nothing more than respect from the Mage Association.

Waver had initially resented the light-haired mage for even asking him to dorm with him. For one thing, he didn't need some spoiled, rich, thick-blooded mage to pity him. And another—one of the perks of getting into the fancy dorms was being able to dorm by yourself. It just defeated the purpose.

However, Waver quickly found out that all of his early assumptions of Flatt were wrong. What he thought would be someone who'd undoubtedly mock him for his inheritance and incompetence as a mage, was someone who had no such thoughts. He was a "prodigy" in a sense, but his very own incompetence squandered his grades. It was because of that Waver found himself often helping Flatt with his school work, allowing Flatt's grades to shoot up.

It hurt, and downright made Waver's blood boil at times to see Flatt be praised for his genius.

He hated him.

And yet, looking down at the Valentine's he made for Flatt, he knew that wasn't true.

It wasn't Flatt he hated, but himself. He had helped Flatt with many things, but in the end it was Flatt's own latent talents that allowed him to progress the way he did.

Flatt had treated him with nothing but kindness, never once looking down upon him like many, if not all of the other thick-blooded mages. He didn't know why Flatt was that way, he just was. He truly was the least mage-like of mages.

And it was because of that, Waver wanted to make him a gift. He told himself, haughtily even, that it was because he didn't want to see Flatt start crying because he didn't get any Valentine's gifts.

Waver knew that he was just telling himself that. Flatt was the type of guy who'd probably get a lot of gifts on this special day. Gosh dammit, he just wanted to give him his gift, he didn't care if it was sappy or not.

Either way, he wanted to make it look nice. Right now, it just looked like card with a blob of glitter on it. He worked on it for hours, and quite frankly he didn't really feel like it anymore.

Waver tapped his chin in thought. He'd never really received a Valentine's gift from anyone before, but people normally put candy or something with it, right? He figured he'd have to go shopping at some point. He could take Flatt along with him, as long as he didn't see what he was getting.

"Waver, can you open the door?~" The voice on the other side was cheerful as usual, but he detected some awkwardness.

"What are you handcuffed?" he said sarcastically. Normally, Flatt was the type to just barge in, and Waver figured he had his hands full. The question was with _what_.

"Uh…I'm fingercuffed!" Waver sighed, hiding the card under his bed. He couldn't do anything about the glitter, he hoped Flatt wouldn't notice.

Of course Flatt would notice. He noticed _everything_. To make things worse he had a question for everything too—questions that were always a bit off, but just as nosey.

Waver opened the door, and—

_God dammit, Flatt!_ Flatt stood there like the moron he was—Chinese finger trap and all, with a stupid, semi-embarrassed grin on his face.

"I kind of got them stuck again, can you help?"

Taking Flatt's hands he quickly undid the trap. "I told you during class to push in with your fingers, not just try to pull them out, idiot."

"Sorry, Waver. I'll remember next time. It just slipped my mind ahaha!~ Eh?! Is that glitter?"

Waver's face went red as Flatt went over to his work area to investigate. He picked up the bottle and stared at it with one eye, looking at it from the bottom.

"I-It's not like I was making Valentine's for anyone in particular or anything silly like that…"

He his face felt like it was on fire, and he couldn't meet Flatt in the eye. He normally wasn't a bad liar, but he was when it came to this stuff. He kind of wanted to cry.

To Waver's surprise, Flatt didn't question him any further, just merely sat the glitter down with a calm smile on his face.

Even Flatt could figure out he was painfully lying. A thought struck Waver, what if like, he could read his mind or something? Nah. That'd be ridiculous.

"I'm sure whatever it is you're making will look super cool! You should put wings on it, that way if you throw it, it'd be able to glide—like a paper airplane! Wouldn't that be neat?!" Smiling brightly in a playful manner, he acted out tossing it.

Typical Flatt. What would he say next? A maid made out of mercury?

"Uh, I don't really…I'm not putting wings on it," he said bluntly.

"That's ok! I'm sure whatever you do will be nice." Flatt didn't look heartbroken, which was good because he really didn't want to work on it anymore. He didn't even want to look at it.

"I'm going to go to the store and look for something, want to come along?"

"Can I, please?!" He sounded really excited. It was normally Flatt dragging Waver to places usually.

He must have picked the glitter again and gripped the bottle too tight in his excitement because his hands were covered in it.

* * *

Waver's plan was originally to see what kind of candy Flatt liked but Flatt was all over the place, never once staying in one section for too long.

They looked at toys and all kinds of ribbons and even candles. He had to touch everything, and there were a few times where he was scared Flatt would drop something breakable.

He was like a little kid, even though he was close to being 20.

"Waver look at this!" He came over with a toy sword in his hand. "Ex-CALIBUUUR!~" he said as he made silly sword-like motions, and gently hit Waver in the head with it.

"Just put that back where it came from." Waver wasn't amused. If he wasn't going to show him what candy he liked then he'd just need him to stay off of his tail.

"Fiiiine…" Flatt placed the sword where he found it, sulking while he did so, and made sure Waver knew of his disappointment. Flatt gave him a pitiful look, but soon his expression brightened. It was almost as if you could see a light bulb go off.

"I want to go to the pet store!" he said suddenly. "See ya, Waver!~ I'll be back later!" Already Flatt was making his way to the door.

"HEY! Just don't come back with a dog or something." He knew he couldn't stop him. He couldn't be bothered by that now though, and just busied himself to looking for a type of candy to get him.

He opted for chocolate, no nuts, in case he was allergic. It turned out to be a lot easier than he first made it out to be and he bought the cheapest thing he could find. Not because he wanted Flatt to have a cheap gift or anything, but he wasn't exactly financially well-off like Flatt was and needed to use his money wisely.

Waver lied on his bed silently waiting for Flatt to return. He hid the small bag of candy under his bed along with the card and tapped his bed sheet impatiently.

Flatt was taking a long time. He just knew the blond mage probably bought a dog-he had mentioned something days ago about wanting to get some kind of puppy, Waver only half-listened.

Did the mage association allow dogs? He didn't know, but he didn't want to be kicked out for it either. He guessed they allowed familiars. They've probably seen weirder things.

His mind floated back to his gift. What if he didn't like his card? Should he put on wings or something? He felt nervous. This was a dumb idea. Flatt probably wasn't going to get him anything either and in the end he'd just make a fool of himself.

_Nonsense_. One just can't make a fool of themselves in front of Flatt, it just wasn't possible.

He was going to make a fool out of himself.

He disliked waiting. Waiting to see what Flatt brought home, waiting for tomorrow.

He hated life.

If Flatt brought home a dog, he's walking it and feeding it.

No, he knew that'd be wrong, he'd be the one who'd take care of it in the end.

What if Flatt didn't like chocolate and it made him sick?

What if the dog Flatt brings home eats his present?

His heart was beating fast, and in the end he was just making himself more paranoid.

Suddenly, he heard the door unlock. Flatt was back! He listened carefully to the clutter he heard behind the door. At least he didn't have his fingers caught again. No loud paws on the ground, which meant no dog. But he still _had_ something.

"I'm back!" Flatt said cheerfully, carrying an aquarium, filled with supplies in his arms.

There was _something_ living in it as well, in a bag filled with water. It didn't look like a fish either. Waver's mind was thrown into a tizzy.

"What is _that_ thing?!" He said, pointing at the strange creature as soon as Flatt sat down the aquarium on a table. He opened a box—presumably a filter of sorts.

"It's a mudpuppy!"

A what? Flatt must have understood his confusion because he went on to explain, in his own words.

"It's a water dog-frog! I read all about them and I think they are really, really cool! They are like a dog but stay in the water all day. They are kind of like a frog that can breathe underwater—I named him Spot! I bet we can teach him a lot of cool tricks!"

Waver felt kind of sick as he examined the ugly creature a bit closer, now in an aquarium filled with water and some stones and plants. Flatt even bought it one of those castle things that are in fish tanks… and a dog chew.

In an odd way, it was kind of cute. He'd have to look up how to take care of it because he didn't trust Flatt with it. He'd probably accidentally kill it.

"You said I couldn't get a dog but you never said I couldn't get a mudpuppy!" he said cheerfully, using an instruction manual to point at him.

After setting up the aquarium (properly) for Flatt, the two decided to call it a night—well Waver did anyway. Flatt wanted to observe their "puppy," as he called it and make sure it fell asleep ok.

He kept a small lamp on overhead, and Waver found it difficult to fall asleep.

He felt anxious for the next day. He just didn't want to look weird or silly, even if Flatt didn't think so, he just wanted him to be happy and not creep him out in anyway.

He tossed and turned for hours in bed, or at least felt like it—in what was likely only twenty minutes.

The light that was kept on was bugging him.

Getting up to turn it off he saw Flatt, of course, had already fallen asleep, the light shining directly in his face.

Quietly, as not to wake him, he turned off the light and prayed that he wouldn't trip on anything that Flatt might have left on the floor.

Even with the light off, sleep just wouldn't come.

Well it must have, as before he knew it, it was morning.

No nightmares, thankfully.

It was early morning, the sun wasn't even up.

Flatt was still asleep in the same position as he was last night—head face down by the aquarium.

The paedomorphic salamander, as Waver made sure to find out just exactly what it was in the manual, was swimming around, looking as though it had not a care in the world.

This irritated him, but he fed it anyway, dropping some food Flatt bought for it into the tank.

Grabbing the gifts he got from under the bed, he examined them. The card looked worse than he remembered.

To make things a bit better, he flipped the card around so he didn't have to look at it.

He hated Valentine's day. It was such a stupid, superficial celebration.

It was a while before Flatt woke up, the sun was now up. The wait was excruciatingly painful.

"Mornin~ Did you sleep well?"

"Not exact—" He stopped abruptly when he saw that Flatt was talking to the mudpuppy, "Spot." Were they seriously going to name it that?

"Mudpuppies are nocturnal, idiot." He turned his head and couldn't meet him in the eye.

Anxiously, he picked up his gift and handed it into Flatt's arms. "Here! Happy Valentine's day."

His face was beet red, and his voice came out in more of a bitter mutter. He was happy— really—well kind of. He was mostly nervous.

"Thank you Waver! This is so cool!" He had picked up the card, and examined it closely—flipping it to the side, and upside down, most likely trying to figure out what it was.

"It's a-a…" He struggled for his words. Most blobs were easy to try and make out something they looked like. This was probably the most amoeba-like blob that existed.

"It's a bird! Like a chicken!" Only Flatt's imagination would make out a chicken out of that thing.

Amoeba was closer in Waver's opinion, but that idiot obviously didn't know what a nucleus was, which was sitting there in the middle of the blob as clear as day—he probably thought it was an eye.

"D-do you like it? I also got you candy—I hope you're not allergic or anything!" Words awkwardly spluttered out, Waver didn't even know half of what he was saying.

Flatt just smiled happily, not seeming to mind Waver's mess of words and searched around in his pocket for something.

"I got you something too! Happy Valentine's Day!" He handed him a crumpled piece of paper and a whistle.

"It's a dog whistle! I bought it yesterday. I figured we could use it to train our mudpuppy!"

Waver was speechless and had felt a mix of emotions; first and foremost he was touched.

He unwrinkled the paper he was given and he felt his heart sink. Not in disappointment-in fact he was elated-however, he couldn't help the wave of second-hand embarrassment that hit him, and in a way that only Flatt could pull off.

It had a hand-drawn picture of a fish on it, or perhaps a mudpuppy with a heart that read:

"My heart will never WAVER for you, Valentine!"

He wasn't going to lie; the pun was so terrible, it actually hurt. He quickly pocketed it.

He didn't know what kind of gift was a whistle, especially one they or the mudpuppy likely couldn't hear.

He didn't know what kind of gift a crinkled piece of paper with a bad pun was either.

But what he did know—he felt genuinely happy and was even teary-eyed.

He knew he'd cherish these items for a long time, perhaps forever…

…Even if he'd never admit it to Flatt.


End file.
